What is the class.forName() method in Java?

class.forName() is a method in Java that returns the class object associated with the class or interface passed as the first parameter (i.e., name). This method is declared in the following way:​

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ClassLoaders are responsible for loading classes into the memory.

Parameters

  • name − This is the fully qualified name of the desired class.

  • initialize − This shows that the class must be initialized.

  • loader − This is the class loader from which the class must be loaded.

Exceptions

  • LinkageError − occurs when the linkage fails.

  • ExceptionInInitializerError − occurs if the initialization provoked by this method fails.

  • ClassNotFoundException − occurs if the class cannot be located by the specified class loader.

Implementation

The following code runs the class.forName() method:

class ClassDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      try {
         Class cls = Class.forName("ClassDemo");
         // returns the ClassLoader object
         ClassLoader cLoader = cls.getClassLoader();
       
         /* returns the Class object associated with the class or interface 
            with the given string name, using the given classloader. */
         Class cls2 = Class.forName("java.lang.Thread", true, cLoader);       
          
         // returns the name of the class
         System.out.println("Class = " + cls.getName());
         System.out.println("Class = " + cls2.getName()); 
      } 
      catch(ClassNotFoundException ex) {
         System.out.println(ex.toString());
      }
   }
}
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